Regular readers of tech news sites are used to hearing about patent trolls. Soon, though, you might start hearing about them in surprising places: like on the drive home from work.
The Internet Association has teamed up with the biggest trade groups representing restaurants, supermarkets, and retailers to launch a new ad campaign in print and radio outlets. The new campaign isn't tech-centric at all, and it emphasizes how trolls hurt "Main Street"-type businesses.
"Imagine you start the business of your dreams," begins the radio ad. "That one store turns into ten. But then you get a letter—from a patent troll. The troll claims to hold a patent on a common business practice like—"
Then an evil-sounding male voice comes in: "The store locator map on your website!" (That's the troll, get it?)
The troll asks for $100,000, and then the honest businessperson gets the message from their lawyer: even though the patent is bunk, it costs more to defend the case than to pay off the troll. "So even though patent trolls don't make anything, they get rich—while honest businesses are ruined," continues the ad. "They won't stop until Congress makes them... Tell Congress to stop bad patents and stop the trolls."
The ads are running in 15 states, including Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Nevada, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Texas, Vermont, and Virginia. The hope is that the ads send a message to businesses that they should speak out about their experiences. The media campaign is a broad-based follow-up to a summer letter to Congress from a wide range of groups expressing desire for action on the troll issue.
"At this point, trolls have gotten so aggressive—frankly they've gotten greedy," said Internet Association President Michael Beckerman in an interview with Ars. "In the early stages they were going after very large companies focusing on tech and Internet. Then they found they could extort restaurants, and retailers, and coffee shops, and hospitals—now even charities are getting threatening letters."
"They've really jumped the shark—they're going to be victims of their own success," he continued. "They've enraged the entire economy, and these people have voices. They're voters and they're pillars of the economy on Main Street. A lot of businesses are scared about this and embarrassed. We want to say, you can talk to your member of Congress, you can talk to the press. It's okay to speak up."
Reformers are hoping to capitalize on unprecedented concerns about patent trolls, with Congress coming back in session in two weeks. Six anti-patent-troll bills have been introduced so far this year.
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